Speaking a week after it emerged that the elder Muthana brother had appeared on a recruiting video for the ISIS terror group fighting in Syria, he said that the Muslim community in Wales was doing everything possible to dissuade young people from travelling to the Middle East to fight.

He said: Imams have made use of the Friday sermon to stress that there is no religious obligation to fight abroad, and that there are many other ways to support those who are suffering and oppressed in Syria and elsewhere.

“At the Muslim Council of Wales, we have worked with charities and aid agencies to ensure that there are clear avenues to send aid.

“We have strong ties with the Syrian community in Wales, who are keen to stress that the last thing that will help Syrian civilians is going to fight, and we have worked with them to get these messages heard.

“While the numbers of those fighting in Syria are not high, even a single young boy whose blood is spilled unnecessarily is too much.

“It is our shared responsibility as a society to proactively come up with solutions to prevent any further tragedies to our young British men.”

Saleem Kidwai who is the head of the Muslim council of Wales

Mr Kidwai, of Cardiff, said that many of the young men were disillusioned as soon as they arrived in Syria but found themselves trapped.

He said: “For several months, the Muslim Council of Wales along with religious leaders and Imams have been working to address these incidents of young men leaving Britain to fight in Syria.

“We have heard from authorities how some have left to fight in Syria, but found themselves disillusioned soon after arriving there.

“Instead of finding adventure, they found a bloody battlefield. They then found themselves trapped in a situation, whereby on one hand fearing arrest if they returned to the UK but on the other hand fearing death if they stayed in Syria.”

In a speech earlier this week, Home Secretary Theresa May raised concerns that returning fighters from Syria would pose a threat to the UK.

But Mr Kidwai said: “Firstly, we must not criminalise these young men. Nasser Muthanna is 20 years old, his younger brother is only 17. They are not violent extremists in the same ilk as the 7/7 bombers. They are idealistic young men, perhaps misguided by notions of a romantic battle between good and evil.

“History tells us that 4,000 British volunteers went to Spain to fight in the Spanish civil war and when they returned, they were not criminalised.

“They did not go to Spain because they were terrorists, they went because they felt they were doing the right thing. Neither did they become radicalised when they came back, rather they served Britain in various capacities.

“As these young men sober up to the harsh realities of war, rather than cutting off ties with these boys, we must offer them a chance to return home, to their families without fear of punishment for their sore errors of judgement.”

Mr Kidwai also urged people not to see the issue of young people fighting in Syria as solely a “Muslim” problem.

He said: “We must avoid making this into a “Muslim” problem. Too often I have heard media outlets and political pundits ask ‘what have Muslims done to stop this?’

“These young men are not only Muslim, they are also British. It is facile to believe that religion alone has pushed them to fight abroad.

“The inaction of politicians, who have condemned with words alone the violent atrocities of the Assad regime, have created a context in which fighting seems like the only solution.

“Frustration with international inaction on these horrific mass murders abroad, combined with a society that glorifies violence, are just some of the factors that play a role in spurring these men to get directly involved.

“I say these things not to lay blame but to stress that in order to prevent other young men from going out to fight we must address this problem together – as a British society.

“At the Muslim Council of Wales, working with Imams, we will continue to outline the religious teachings that forbid and condemn violence for the sake of violence.

Nasser Muthana, right, and Reyaad Khan, from Cardiff

“I hope other British institutions will join hands with us – schools, politicians, other faith leaders and society at large – to save our children from making similar mistakes.

“Finally, we must not let misleading headlines allow our society to be divided and friendships to be broken.

“The Daily Mail’s front page, on Monday 23rd June, accused Al-Manar Mosque of radicalising the young men by hosting a Saudi preacher.

“Such simplistic accusations can rip apart our communities. Just this weekend, the very mosque being accused of extremism, organised a neighbourhood clean-up in the local Cathays area, a small example of how this mosque actively reaches out and contributes to their local community.

“Why target and tarnish Muslim communities so unnecessarily and damage the good work and bridge building they have done for years?

“My heart goes out to the parents of the young boys in Syria and all the parents whose sons have gone, and pray for their safe return.

“I am confident however that together, as the strong Welsh society that we are, we can rise to the challenge and find solutions to the problems that face us.”

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